If not specifically addressed in this web space, assume the operation or behavior of the Unified Communications applications is the same as on a bare metal deployment (MCS server deployment).

Note:

See Downloading and Deploying OVA Templates from Cisco.com for more information on downloading OVA templates from Cisco.com (CDC).

The Unified Communications (UC) applications from Cisco are supported when running in a virtual environment only when the virtual environment meets the specifications in this web page. Deviations from these specifications result in an unsupported deployment. Running real-time applications in a virtual environment requires more constraints than typical non-real time applications. All those constraints are listed in this web page.

When running UC on a virtualized platform, installation, configuration, upgrading and monitoring of the hardware and VMware software must be done manually. The "appliance model" of UC on bare metal does not apply when the UC applications are running virtualized. There are four distinct Layers to configure and manage when running UC virtualized. Each of these is addressed below:

Configuring Hardware Platforms

The first step on any virtualized UC deployment is to configure the hardware platform.

Note:

Hardware configuration, including raid configuration, BIOS settings, firmware upgrades/configuration and monitoring of hardware health is not done by the UC applications when running virtualized, regardless of the hardware platform.

Note:

Cisco supports the use of VMware EVC mode at the "Intel Xeon Core I7" level or higher. This allows configuring ESXi clusters with hosts with "Nehalem/Core I7" and newer CPU models. Intel Xeon Core I7/Nehalem processor and subsequent generations of the Xeon processors are the only processors supported for running UC virtualized.

For ANY virtualized UC deployment there are requirements for performance of the disk storage subsystem. Cisco TRC's that use local disk storage (DAS) for virtual machines are pre-engineered to meet these requirements. For ANY other virtualized UC deployment using DAS storage or SAN storage, click here for requirements.

Installing and configuring the ESXi Virtualization Software

After hardware configuration is complete, VMware vSphere ESXi must be installed. The term host is used to refer to a hardware platform running virtualization software. The virtualization DocWiki pages use this term.

vCenter Requirements

vCenter is used to manage and monitor ESXi servers. It collects and logs performance information for all virtual machines and ESXi hosts under its control. Cisco requires the use of vCenter to manage any specs-based deployments of virtualized UC. If you are deploying a TRC configuration, it is very highly recommended to use vCenter, because it can be extremely beneficial in debugging problems, however, it is not required.

Supported Applications and Deploying the OVA templates

Once ESXi is running on the hardware platform, the host is is ready to host virtual machines. Virtual machines are referred to as guests, a term used throughout this wiki space.

The first step is to create the virtual machine(s) on the host. Cisco requires that Cisco-generated OVA templates be used to create the virtual machines to run the UC applications. These OVA templates contain aligned disk partitions and other specific configurations that are required.

Installing UC Applications in the VM

Once the virtual machines have been created using the OVA templates, you are ready to install the UC application(s) into the virtual machine(s).

Overall, the installation process is nearly identical to installing bare-metal on an MCS server. However, the following differences should be noted:

The installation DVD can be used remotely through the VI Client, or locally on the host, if the host has a DVD (b-series blades, for example do not have a DVD). Alternately, you can convert the DVD into an .iso file and install by uploading the .iso file to your ESXi datastore. It is beyond the scope of this documentation to support conversion of the DVD to an .iso file, however there is software and freeware available for doing this. An example of freeware is MagicDisc and their 5 simple steps for creating a bootable .iso image from a DVD.

An external (stratum 5 or better) NTP server is required and must be accessible. Using local hardware clock is not an option.

NIC speed/duplex settings are not available, as these are inherited from the ESXi host.

VM Deployment Density

VMware Feature Support

Not all VMware vSphere features are supported, and some are supported only with restrictions. See Unified Communications VMware Requirements for more information on VMware vSphere feature support and virtualized UC applications.